ClixPrestige

Anki Overdrive

We were sent the Anki Overdrive starter kit to review. My 7-year-old son has been watching YouTube videos with his favourite YouTubers testing this out for a few months and couldn’t believe his luck when we were asked to put it to the test.

The £149 starter kit includes six 90-degree curved pieces and four straights, plus two riser pieces for up to eight potential layouts. It also includes 2 Robotic Supercars (Skull and Groundshock), 1 four-car charging system and 1 tyre cleaner.

To be able to play you will need a compatible Android or Apple device so that you can download the free Anki Overdrive app. The Anki Overdrive app automatically gets you connected and teaches you gameplay.

Once you have charged the Anki cars (this only took 8 minutes) set up your track (clicks together in seconds) and downloaded the app you can place the cars on the track and get them ready to race. The cars analyse the track with a warm-up lap using downward-facing sensors, the layout is drawn on your device and the cars complete a lap before they return to the starting line where they are then ready to race.

Anki Overdrive is absolutely brilliant and it’s perfect for today’s children of the future. My children are addicted to their devices and I love the fact that this is something new and gets them playing and not just watching YouTube. My son is only 7 and he had no problem working out how to play it, in fact, he was the one helping me. My 14-year-old daughter has been playing too, it’s nice to see them playing together again as with a 7-year gap between them it’s usually quite difficult to find something that they can both do together.

The cars are like robots that are programmed for battle. When you control them with your smart device you can take each other down with an array of weapons, from plasma cannons to flamethrowers. You can duel with your friends or race the 25+ different artificially intelligent opponents. The more you play, the more upgrades and items you will gain, and this will help you to fight back and win! A maximum of four cars can be raced on the track so if you’ve got enough friends and each has a mobile device, you can race head-to-head. You can also play alone as you can control one car and set up to three others as robotic.

There are now quite a few extra vehicles you can buy, mostly made up from the Supercar range (Nuke, Nuke Phantom, Thermo, Guardian, and Big Bang) There are also a handful of lorries, called Supertrucks (X52, X52 ICE, and Freewheel) The Super-trucks add a new dimension because they can’t take every corner at full speed as they topple over, so you need to manage them more carefully. There is also a Fast & Furious Edition starter kit that includes two movie-themed vehicles in the form of Dom’s Ice Charger and Hobbs’MXT International, as well as an extra track piece called the Power Zone.

My little Zac will definitely be asking Santa for some extras to add to his set this Christmas. He loves to build tracks and with all the extra pieces you can add on to make your races more exciting and challenging this kit is certainly a winner for me this Christmas.

We were sent the Anki Overdrive starter kit for free to review, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.